Marin County Civic Center was designed in 1957 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Groundbreaking took place in 1960 and construction was completed in 1962, after his death.  The style of the building is Wright's trademark "organic architecture," echoing some of the same themes seen in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Musem in New York City.  It's currently listed as a National Historic Landmark.

The structure is comprised of two main sections, with a (now defunct) radio tower at one end and skylights running nearly the entire length. The floors are designed to allow maximum dispersal of natural light. 

The Radio Tower/Boiler Room Exhaust Tower:

View from the roof. Those humps, those humps, those lovely, wavy lumps. 

View from the Marin County Board of Supervisors' Room

Standing at 40 feet tall, and weighing over 6 tons, is this life-size sculpture of Optimus Prime by Sun Peng. It's one of the main attractions in Beijing's Green Dream Park, within walking distance of the Bird's Nest Stadium from the 2008 Olympics.  Construction is mainly from recycled car parts, five truckloads' worth: DFM, CA, Toyota, Jeep, 20 vans and 16 motorcycles.

The Park has a few other metalworks in the same vein:

S.I. from Wired and Alexis from Breadpig (purveyors of Awesomesauce and the new SMBC book) dropped by the Ladder Eight Firehouse building in Tribeca. It might look familiar.  They brought some Stay Puft Marshmallows to share, naturally:

What's a shame is NY Daily News' recent report that Ladder 8 is on the chopping block due to budget cuts:

Four Queens companies are on the chopping block, while three each in Manhattan and the Bronx - and two on Staten Island - are also scheduled to be shut down, according to the list, which was obtained from a FDNY source.

Ladder 53, the only such unit on City Island, is slated to be closed, according to the list.

Additionally, Engine 4 and Ladder 8 - two lower Manhattan companies within response range to the World Trade Center site - are set to be shut down.

Lets hope it at least goes the way of Ralphie's house, and doesn't just get boarded up indefinitely.

The talented Siraudio did this excellent sculpt over the weekend. If this makes you hungry for some s'mores, you can get your hands on some actual Stay Puft Marshmallows. They don't have a face, but they are loaded with caffeine.

We're ramping up production for Summer 2011, can you believe the year's half over?

(download)

Click here to download:

not-bad-for-half-a-day-s-work-mhyvJpphfghGhIgqbaoj.zip (10.86 MB)